Rippling the Charity Spirit

Rippling the Charity Spirit

By Tim Wee

October 8, 2013

More than 400 participants got wet and wild at SAFRA Swim For Hope 2013 last Sunday. Taking place at SAFRA Tampines, a strong crowd turned out to create a big splash for charity. Collaborating with Community Chest, SAFRA ensured that all event proceeds went a long way in helping beneficiaries like Youth Guidance Outreach Services (YGOS), Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN) and the Grace Orchard School. With the crowd buzzing with optimism, the annual charity swim event was attempting to surpass last year’s record of 21898 laps within the six hour event.

Buzzing with optimism for the big splash!

Flagging off at 10am, the assembled participants dived right into the inviting waters. The deafening chants of encouragement from the stands motivated the swimmers to give it their all. Despite the high stakes at hand, the event still retained a fun vibe as three special needs students from Grace Orchard School led the swimming charge. 13 year old Nicole Fu, one of the three students, was clearly enjoying the swim. An avid swimmer, she managed to rack up 20 laps for the worthy cause.

As the scorcher of a day went on, the swimmers were not only ones in the cooling water. It wasn’t long before the poolside SAFRA volunteers jumped in to join them. With the clocking winding down, all participants made a last push as they managed to record an amazing 22637 laps in total.

SAFRA volunteers getting wet under the Sunday sun!

Breaking the previous year record of 302 laps, Mr Vincent Koh set a new bar by completing 306 laps. The 39 year old ‘Individual’ category winner’s steely determination ensured that he managed to complete his last lap with just 49 seconds remaining.

Despite his historic triumph, Mr Koh was adamant about the event’s charity aspect as he stressed that “We all have to give back in some ways”. This sentiment was also echoed by Community Chest General Manager, Ms Ng Ling Ling who felt that SAFRA Swim For Hope was a “very good use of sports to do something meaningful”. She also went on to highlight the event dynamism which was a display of “what we (community) can do when we bring our collective efforts together”. Suffice to say, Swim For Hope 2013 definitely achieved its objectives of blazing a charity spirit to create waves for a worthwhile cause.

Ms Ng Ling Ling receiving the collective efforts of the community!

Charity doesn't just stop with us, but continues with our children too! As part of the new Father& Child challenge category, about 43 NSmen together with their little ones did their parts for charity too! Click here to read more!